This invention relates to camping trailers, and, more particularly, to an expandable bed assembly for a camping trailer.
Camping trailers conventionally include a pair of bed wings which are adapted to extend outwardly from the trailer body in cantilever fashion when the trailer is set up for use. Each of the bed wings includes a pair of extension rails which are slidably mounted on rails on the sides of the trailer body. A bed frame is slidably supported by the extension rails. When the trailer is to be towed or stored, the bed wings are moved inside of the trailer body.
In one type of prior art trailer the length of the trailer body was 7 feet. It was desirable to utilize beds which were about 41/2 feet wide, but two such beds were too wide to be stored side-by-side inside the 7 foot trailer body. One attempt to solve the problem was to make one of the beds and mattresses in two parts--a first bed and mattress which remained supported by bed extensions in the storage position and a second, smaller mattress which was removed from the bed frame and folded and stored and the smaller frame was folded onto the first bed frame for storage. The problem with this approach was that the folded mattress became creased and looked unattractive when opened up and the first mattress had to be removed so that the frames could be folded and then the mattress had to be placed back on top of the folded frame. This was awkward and made set-up longer.
A second attempt was to use three mattresses--a first mattress which remained supported by the bed frame in the storage position and two small mattresses which were stored inside the trailer. In use the two small mattresses were supported side-by-side on the bed frame and the trailer body and were retained in position by retaining brackets and straps. Disadvantages with this construction were that the two small mattresses took up storage space inside of the trailer and the set-up procedure was awkward because it was necessary to align the brackets and straps when installing the small mattresses.
The invention provides an expandable bed assembly in which the second mattress is supported by a second bed frame which is pivotally attached to the first bed frame by a pair of parallel links. During use the second bed frame is supported by the first bed frame and by the trailer body. The second bed frame is moved to the storage position simply by pivoting the second bed frame and the links outwardly until the second bed frame is supported above the first mattress. The second bed frame and mattress are stored in a space not normally used, i.e., on top of the first bed frame and mattress. The second mattress remains supported by the second bed frame at all times. Movement of the parallel links on the two sides of the bed frame is synchronized by a torsion bar which connects one link of each of the two pairs of parallel links. Set-up and tear-down of the bed assembly are therefore performed quickly and easily.